For years, patients have been trained using inhaler placebos. But this solution is far from perfect. A recent study showed that a lack of placebo availability can have a substantial, negative impact on patient training. Selection of inhalers also depend on availabity of the placebo devices to train patients on correct use of medication.
Check this out: http://www.educationforhealth.org/data/files/resources/InhalerDeviceSelectionPoster.pdf
Use-Inhalers is working to develop a solution to this problem: virtual inhalers with sensor technology.
Placebo inhalers, while mainstream, leave a lot to be desired.
- The lack of guidance relating to their reuse, the wide variation in decontamination practice across the patients and the risk of cross-infection.
- Ordering placebos is troublesome, time consuming and there is no single resource that provides placebos every inhaler.
- Selling Placebo inhaler devices in the United States requires 501K pre market FDA approval.
- As per FDA guidelines, all devices should be ‘single patient use’. Creates a need for one placebo inhaler for every patient!
At Use-Inhalers.com, we believe our virtual, sensor-based inhalers can help solve a lot of these problems!
Use-Inhalers.com is coming up with a plan to create virtual - inhaler with sensing technology, ideal for the patients who do not have access to placebo inhalers. Real life-like experience with step by step automated validation, where patients can practice the correct use of their inhaler device multiple times on screen till they the technique right.